Wire-straighteners



y 7, 1957 c. PAULSON 2,791,243

WIRE-STRAIGHTENERS Filed May 25, 1953 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

flaw.

ATTORNEY May 7, 1957 Filed May 25, 1953 C. PAULSON WIRE-STRAIGHTENERS 5 Sheqts-Sheet 2 Lil.

INVENTOR.

6'. PA UL so/v ATTORNEY May 7, 1957 Filed May 25, 1953 FIG?) C. PAULSON WIRE-STRAIGHTENERS 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 ATTORNEY y 7, 1957 c. PAULSON' 2,791,243

WIRE-STRAIGHTENEIRS Filed May 25, 1953 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 IN VEN TOR.

BY '0. PA 01 54W fin.

ATTORNEY United States Patent WIRE-STRAIGHTENERS Christian Paulson, Elmhurst, Ill., assign'or to Western Electric Company, Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application May 25, 1953, Serial No. 357,194

8 Claims. (Cl. 140-147) This invention relates to wire-straighteners, and more particularly to apparatus for straightening a multitude of wires simultaneously.

In manufacturing operations wherein a plurality of wires are formed into objects simultaneously by machines operable intermittently, such as, for example, a press, it sometimes is essential that the wires be perfectly straight as they are fed to such a machine, and it is also essential that the wires be fed uniformly to the machine. Where individual wire straightening machines are used, it has been very diflicult to synchronize the feed of each machine. Also, in the past there has been no satisfactory machine for straightening a plurality of wires uniformly.

An object of the invention is to provide new and improved wire-straighteners.

Another object of the invention is to provide new and improved apparatus for straightening a multitude of wires simultaneously.

Another object of the invention is to provide apparatus for advancing a plurality of wires at a uniform speed and straightening the wires as they are so advanced.

A further object of the invention is to provide a compact, easily maintained wire-straightening machine which may be easily adapted to several sizes and types of wires.

An apparatus illustrating certain features of the invention may include a cartridge type wire-straightening element designed to be replaceably mounted in a rotatable holder, and means may be provided for feeding a plurality of wires to the wire-straightening elements.

A wire straightener illustrating the invention more specifically may include a grooved roll for advancing in cooperation with presser rolls, a plurality of wires to a plurality of rotatable wire-straightening heads. Each of the heads includes a pair of tubes mounted in tandem, which are rotated in opposite directions and cartridges designed to be inserted and removed from an end of one of the tubes. Each cartridge is separable into two halves, each rotatable with respect to the other and each half of the cartridge has a slot therein for receiving wire-forming dies.

A complete understanding of the invention may be had from the following detailed description of an apparatus forming a specific embodiment thereof, when read in conjunction with the appended drawings, in which Fig. l is a fragmentary, top plan view of an apparatus forming one embodiment of the invention with portions thereof shown in section;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken along the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged vertical section taken along the line 4-4 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary section of a portion of the apparatus shown in Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary section taken along the line 66 of Fig. 5, and

Fig. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary section of a portion of the apparatus shown in Fig. 3.

Referring now indetail to the drawings, there is shown therein a machine for straightening wires 11 and for pushing the wires therethrough at a rate of speed uniform for all the wires. The wires are guided by tubes 12 (Figs. 1 and 2) mounted in a housing 13 and travel from the tubes 12 to grooves 15 formed in an upper roll 17 also having aligning grooves 16 therein. The wires are pressed into the grooves 15 (Figs. '2 and 3) and into grooves 27 in rolls 22 splined to a shaft 23 by pins 24 fitting in sockets in the rolls 22 and projecting through wide slots 25 formed in the shaft 23. Bearings 26 mount the shaft 23 rotatably. The rolls 22 have tapered ribs 21 and are mounted rockably on tapered bushings 31 fitting loosely on the shaft 23. Bearings 32 supported by arms 34 of bell crank levers 35 having cam follower rolls 36 mount the bushings 31. The roll 17 is driven in a wire-advancing direction by a V-belt drive 41 and drives the rolls 22 in the same direction through gears '42 and 43 connecting the roll 17 to the shaft 23.

During the normal operation of the machine, the bell crank levers 35 are urged in an individually clockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 2, by compression springs 51 mounted on rods 52 supported by guides 53 mounted on the housing 13. The compression springs 51 press against a lug 61 fastened rigidly to the arms 54 and press the rolls 22 tightly against the wires 11 in the grooves '16, each roll 22 pressing against two of the wires and rocking on the tapered bushings to equalize the pressure on the wires. The ribs 21 hold the rolls 22 against lon gitudinal movement relative to the roll 17. A manually operable cam 62 is designed to force the bell crank levers 35 in a counter-clockwise direction to move the rolls 22 out of the path of the wires 11 when it is desired to string up the machine. The rolls 17 and 22 advance the wires 11 to the right, as viewed in Fig. 2, into guide tubes 64 and 65, the guide tubes 64 diverging upwardly to wirestraightening units 66 and the guide tubes 65 travelling downwardly to wire-straightening units 67.

The wire-straightening units 66 are identical with one another and with the wire-straightening units 67, the

units 66 being positioned above worm gears 68 and 69, and the units 67 being positioned below the worm gears 68 and '69 and between adjacent ones of the units 66. Each of the units 67 includes a tube 71 mounted in bearings 72 and rotated in one direction by the worm gear 68, and also includes a tube 75 mounted in bearings 76 supported by the housing 13 and driven by the worm gear 69 in a direction opposite to that of the tube 71. Each of the bearings 72 and '76 is a thrust bearing and is mounted in the housing 13 by split rings 81.

Cartridges 82 each includes holders 83 and 84 joined together by a freely rotatable connecting sleeve 85, and each cartridge is detachably keyed to the tubes 71 and 75 by leaf springs 91 and 93 fitting into holes 92 and 94 formed in the sleeve 85. The springs 91 and 93 are secured by screws 86 at one end of the holders 83 and 84 in slots 87 in the holders, and a shoulder 88 on the spring 93 locks the holders against movement to the right, as viewed in Fig. 6, by the wire. A tab portion 89 of the spring 93 may be pressed to release the holders for longitudinal movement. The holders 83 and 84 are provided with slots 95 and 96, respectively, open at one side of the holders for receiving wire-straightening cam plates 97, 98, 99 and 100. The holder 83 supports an entrance guide bushing 104 at one end thereof and has a hardened guide plate 105 at the other end thereof bearing against a hardened guide plate 106 secured to the holder 84, which supports an exit bushing 107 extending to a'tubula'r 1411013 108. A V-belt drive 111, driven in synchronism with the V- belt drive 41, rotates the worm gears 68, which are Operation The wires 11 are advanced continuously between the roll 17 and the rolls 22, and the ribs 21 of the rolls 22 press the wires into the grooves in the rolls so that the wires are pushed uniformly into the wires-straightening units 66 and 67. The bell crank levers 35 urge the bushings 31 and the rolls 22 fitting rockably on the bushings toward the roll 17 so that the rolls 22 press the wires uniformly against the roll 17, and the adjustment screws 52 may be adjusted relative to the guides 53 to individually adjust the pressure of the rolls 22 on the wires so that all the wires are fed at the same rate of speed.

As each wire 11 travels through one of the wirestraightening units 66 and 67, the cam plates 97 and 98 form a predeterminedly tortuous path therebetween and are rapidly rotated in one direction around the wire so that they spin the wire to substantially straighten the wires. which are revolved in one direction, to the cam plates 99 and 100, which are revolved in the opposite direction at a substantially higher rate of speed than that at which the cam plates 97 and 98 are revolved and form a substantially less tortuous path for the wire than that of the cam plates 97 and 98. The cam plates 99 and 100 spin the wire in the opposite direction to complete the straightening thereof. The wires come out of the wirestraightening units 66 and 67 completely straight and at the same rate of speed. The configuration of the path formed by the plates 97 and 98 is more greatly tortuous than that formed by the cam plates 99 and 100 so that the wire is initially straightened more roughly and then is very precisely straightened as it travels between the plates 99 and 100.

Each of the cartridges 82 may be pulled to the right, as viewed in Fig. 4, to pull the cartridge completely out of the sleeves 71 and 75 so that the cam plates 97, 98, 99 and 100 may be inspected and replaced if worn and also for purposes of stringing up the cartridge with the wire whenever necessary. The bushings 104 and 107 and the guide plates 105 and 106 may be replaced when desired to adapt the cartridges to wires of different sizes or different types and the cam plates, of course, also may be replaced. The ends of the cam plates 98 and 99 adjacent to one another are designed to fit under the joint 85 to lock these ends of the plates 98 and 99 in the holders 83 and 84, and the leaf springs 91 resiliently hold the .outer ends of the cam plates 98 and 99 in the cartridge, as well as keying the holders 83 and 84 to the tubes 71 and 75 and holding the holders against longitudinal move ment relative to the tubes.

The above described apparatus is simple and compact in construction, and advances wires therethrough at the same rate of speed so that uniform straightening treatment is applied to each of the wires. Thus, this appajratus may be easily used in tandem with another apparatus requiring uniform feed of the wires. The apparatus 1s easily strung up, is easily adapted to Wires of different sizes and types, and the maintenance thereof is very simple.

It is to be understod that the above-described arrangements are simply illustrative of the application of the principles of this invention. Numerous other arrangements may be readily devised by those skilled in the art which will embody the principles of the invention and fall within the spirit and scope thereof.

Each wire travels from the cam plates 97 and 98, g 7

What is claimed is:

l. A wire-straightener, which comprises a frame, a tube mounted rotatably in the frame, a second tube mounted rotatably in the frame in alignment with the first tube, a tubular wire-forming element designed to fit in the first tube, a second tubular wire-forming element designed to fit into the second tube, means for keying the first wire-forming element to the first tube, means for keying the second wire-forming element to the second tube, thrust bearing means connecting the wire-forming elements together so that they can be pulled out of the tubes as a unit, and means for rotating the tubes at different rates of speed.

2. A wire-straightener, which comprises a frame, a tube mounted rotatably in the frame, a second tube mounted rotatably in the frame in alignment with the first tube, a tubular wire-forming element designed to fit in the first tube, a second tubular wire-forming element designed to fit into the second tube, means for keying the first wire-forming element to the first tube, means for keying the second wire-forming element to the second tube, thrust bearing means connecting the wire-forming elements together so that they can be pulled out of the tubes as a unit, means for rotating the first tube in one direction, means for rotating the second tube in the opposite direction, and means for advancing a wire sequentially through the wire-forming elements.

3. A wire-straightener, which comprises a frame, a tube mounted rotatably in the frame, a second tube mounted rotatably in the frame in tandem with the first tube, a tubular wire-forming element designed to fit in the first tube, a second tubular wire-forming element designed to fit into the second tube, means splining the wire-forming element to the tubes, rotary-and-thrust bearing means connecting the wire-forming elements together so that they can be pulled out of the tubes as a unit, means for rotating the first tube at a predetermined rate of speed, means for rotating the second tube at a rate of speed substantially greater than that at which the first tube is rotated, and means for pushing a wire sequentially through the wire-forming elements.

4. A wire-straightener, which comprises a roll having a plurality of peripheral grooves therein, a sleeve having a pair of grooves designed to receive wires in the grooves in the roll, means pressing the sleeve toward the roll, and mounting the sleeve rockably to balance the pressures on the wires, a driven shaft extending loosely through the sleeve, means permitting radial and axial movement between the shaft and the sleeve and preventing turning movement therebetween, and means for moving the sleeve away from the roll.

5. A wire-straightener, which comprises a roll having a plurality of peripheral grooves therein, a plurality of sleeves having grooves designed to press the wires into the grooves in the roll, a driven shaft extending loosely through the sleeves, means pushing the sleeves individual- 1y toward the roll, means splining the sleeves to the shaft, means for rotating the roll to push Wires therethrough, a plurality of rotatable wire-straighteners, means mounting the wire-straighteners at the exit side of the roll and the sleeves, means for rotating the wire-straighteners, and

jmeans for guiding. wires from the. roll to the wire straighteners.

6. A cartridge type wire-straightener, which comprises a pair of rotatable tubes mounted in tandem, a pair of rods each having an elongated slot extending longitudinally from end to end and laterally from the periphery thereof past the longitudinal axis thereof and also being provided with removable tubular guides at an end of each, a plurality of cam plates insertable into the slots, an inwardly flanged-sleeve connecting the rods together against thrust at one end of each and permitting relative rotation between the rods, and leaf spring means for locking the rods in the tubes.

7. A cartridge for a wire-straightener, which comprises a pair of rods each having an elongated slot extending longitudinally from end to end and laterally from the periphery thereof past the longitudinal axis thereof, a plurality of cam plates insertable into the slots, and means locking the rods together against thrust.

8. A wire-straightener, which comprises a pair of tubes mounted in tandem, means for rotating the tubes in opposite directions, a pair of rods each having an elongated slot extending longitudinally from end to end and laterally from the periphery thereof past the longitudinal axis thereof, said rods being slidable into the tubes, means for keying the rods to the tubes, a plurality of cam plates insertable into the slots, means connecting the rods together against thrust at one end of each, and means for 15 locking the rods in the tubes.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Snedeker June 12, Greiner July 18, Wright Nov. 14, Backus Nov. 27, Higgins May 19, Vanderseel; Jan. 4,

FOREIGN PATENTS Germany Mar. 1, Great Britain Oct. 9, 

